Grab your favourite bag of Cool Ranch and settle in cause Doritos just schooled us on brand identity.
Doritos recently launched this ad - called an anti-ad (Hmmmm, that sounds familiar, get out of our heads Doritos) - that you should probably watch before we get to dissecting it.
Watch it Now!
“An ad with no logo? That’s another level.”
Er. Is it? Let’s hang onto that thought ’cause they didn’t really need the logo did they? In fact, the whole ad feels MORE branded than most ads on TV these days.
So, what’s in the ad? Triangles. The iconic shape of the chip is everywhere and not just in the chip imagery. It’s everywhere, including in the angles around the talent. A VERY specific blue and red. The exact shades of the brand, the ones they’ve used consistently through years of marketing.
Cheesy? Check. Corn? Check. Slightly counter culture, but not too counter culture? Yep, that’s all of the signatures used in previous Doritos ads … which have been running for years.
We get it!
So what can you learn from this obvious ad that claims to not be an ad? A lot.
First, your brand colours are more important than you think. When they mention those red and blue bags, the logo may not be on them but they’re very specific colours and they’ve been used for years, making the packaging so recognizable.
Second, tone is everything. You know that counter-culture reference above? The fact Doritos, a Frito-Lay product, has always been the chip the cool kids ate and that’s definitely a part of their marketing throughout the years. You may be a 40-year-old dad of three, eating Doritos in your underwear while your wife is on a business trip, but the fact the product is marketed at kids and young adults consistently sets the counterculture tone they’re trying to achieve. Just because you’re not the target market of THIS ad doesn’t mean you’re not the target market of the product.
Any more lessons?
Finally, the best lesson you can learn from this ad is consistency over a long period of time can make your brand recognizable, even when your logo isn’t present. Your brand is a feeling, it’s a set of factors like colours and fonts that make it unique, which is why you should be carrying your brand elements through everything from your website to your brick and mortar location, to your social media, and even in who you hire and what their uniforms consist of.
Strengthening the Message
Speaking of keeping it consistent, Doritos has also scrubbed its name from its social media accounts and website. For an additional twist, they’re crowdsourcing, asking people what “Another Level” means to them, allowing them to “triangle” themselves with a photo filter, and have completely filled their Instagram (LINK) with pared-down triangular shaped imagery.
Get the Drift?
Whether the campaign will be a success or not remains to be seen since it’s a pretty new approach, however, we’re confident the Doritos brand will endure thanks to all that consistency. And while all these tips are essential for any businesses brand, a small business without the name recognition of Doritos and the benefit of 20 years of advertising probably won’t be able to pull off such an audacious campaign, but the question you SHOULD be asking yourself is: If I pulled my logo off everything, would people still know what business or product I was selling?
Shameless Plug
Want to talk about making your brand not only stand out, but endure and become recognizable? We do that! Get in touch.